Concern and excitement will be on the minds of the Penn State women's volleyball team this weekend.

No. 8 Penn State (7-0) travels west to take on Rice (6-2) and Brigham Young (4-3) in the BYU Mizuno Classic.

Coaches and players have concern after a dismal week of practice.

"What have been our strengths have not been very good this week," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said. "I think we got progressively worse in practice every day. It's a sign of teams not having a lot of confidence and not having the sort of maturity you need to compete"

Rose hopes players will be able to get excited before Friday's match so the team can return to form. Some players on the team, however, are banged up. This could create a problem as the team looks to regain some of its confidence.

The fact that the team only has to play two games this weekend -- as opposed to the usual three games that an early season tournament brings -- could help the team get focused.

Penn State only plays two matches because the fourth team in the tournament, Ohio State, is a Big Ten opponent who the Lions will play later in the year.

The two teams the Lions play are tough and the kind of opposition that helps a team find what its been missing.

"It's always good to play good teams," junior Ashley Pederson said. "Winning always helps your confidence but playing good teams and beating good teams helps, too."

Both BYU and Rice are playing well early in the season.

BYU is always one of the top teams in the country. The Cougars have lost three matches -- one a five-game loss to Arkansas and one a loss to Florida, a team in the top five nationally.

Rice has a five-match win streak heading into the weekend. The last loss for the Owls came on August 30.

The excitement for Penn State comes from the fact that the Big Ten season is now in sight. Just two weeks from the start of the most crucial part of the season, this weekend will serve as more preparation.

Rose said the schedule was set up with three tournaments away from home to start the season so the younger players could see what it was like to play in a big environment on the road.

"It's gonna be good that we're gonna be in an environment that's gonna have some pretty tough fans," senior Cara Smith said.